In November 2021, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue published its updated Publication 240 regarding the taxability of digital goods. Among other updates, the publication clarifies that taxable “other news or information products” are those products that “disseminate news or information,” for example charges for access to online databases or websites where the payer may perform
Sales/Use Tax
All-or-Nothing: Minnesota Supreme Court Rules Taxpayer Not Entitled To Exemption for Online Computer Data Retrieval Equipment
The Minnesota Supreme Court held that a taxpayer that sold data technology services was not eligible for Minnesota’s sales tax exemption for computer equipment used in online data retrieval systems because the underlying information was “not equally accessible to all of its customers.”
Minnesota provides a sales tax exemption for, among other things, “machinery and…
Utah Tax Commission Doesn’t Want a Piece of Your Video Streaming
On April 10, 2019, the Utah Tax Commission issued a private letter ruling to a video streaming provider (“Taxpayer”) finding that the Taxpayer’s sales of subscriptions entitling subscribers to enhanced features on the Taxpayer’s streaming platform, are not subject to sales and use tax. On its internet-based platform, the Taxpayer provides a video streaming service…
South Carolina Administrative Law Court Holds it May Not Enforce Summons for Delivery Records Issued to North Carolina Freight Carrier
The South Carolina Administrative Law Court (ALC) held that it could not enforce a Department of Revenue (Department) summons for delivery records issued to a North Carolina freight carrier that regularly transported out-of-state furniture into South Carolina. The Department’s summons requested records of all deliveries the company made into South Carolina, including each purchaser’s name,…
Tennessee rules the “true object” of a bundled transaction is nontaxable data analytics services, not remotely accessed software
The Tennessee Department of Revenue issued a letter ruling finding that a taxpayer’s mobile and web data analytics services were not subject to sales and use tax. The taxpayer’s customers installed the taxpayer’s software code, which collected user data about the customers’ websites or mobile applications. The taxpayer then analyzed the data and granted the…
I’ve Been Wrong Before: The New York Department of Taxation and Finance Imposes Sales Tax on a Marketplace Operator
On March 8, 2019, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance released an Advisory Opinion ruling that an online marketplace operator that facilitates taxable software sales is a “vendor” liable to collect sales tax. The Department relied on a rarely-used portion of the definition of “vendor,” which states that “when in the opinion of…